Genre confusion rules. When my novels confound, I rip out a poem or wash the floor with a toothbrush, whichever seems easier at the time. Usually the toothbrush wins.

When not writing, breathing, sleeping, you can find me reading long and short fiction for jmww.

Oh, and I study, too. Silly me, I'm getting an MA in Creative Writing @ Hopkins. What was I thinking?

Why do you write?

I write to make sense of my world. Sometimes it works.

Any favorite authors? Books?

I am really hot on Tim O'Brien right now. He uses a circular technique that layers details unto details over and over within stories, and across. A master. Stuff that makes me ache ==> THE THINGS THEY CARRY.

And revisiting Atwood these days. Devastating prose...

For non-fiction, try WAR by Sebastian Junger, and THE MEADOW by James Galvin.

Oh. Thank you so much, Linda. Your words mean more than you know. And I completely agree that we as woman will do anything to grieve for a time. We cover it up with the "do" as you so wonderfully put. Thank you.

Thanks Linda, for reading my tiny poem. I usually write long ones but I'm fascinated by the challenge of very few words. I see short poems as bright strangulations of intensity pinned on fields of white. XXX

Thanks you for your lovely comment about "Not That Kind of Pain," Linda. Thanks for using it with your students!

re: the last line. The questioner is asking about physical pain. In the last line, the person suffering is saying (probably not out loud, thinking to himself) it's not physical--it's emotional, it's spiritual, it's a pain without cause not subject to relief.

But everyone reads this poem differently! I'm thrilled to see it appeal to so many different readers in so many different ways!

I didn't want to post this right out in the comments, although I suppose it shows up anyway. I still haven't figured Fictionaut out. The Accidental Arsonist seems very Unitarian to me. My wife's one and I get dragged there more often than I like, even though it's only a few times every year. It's me though, not the Unis. They're fine people. Anyway, I read Accidental Arsonists and I'm right there, on Franklin Avenue, by Starr King's grave. With those Unis. That's a good story.

Ha! Before I even peaked at the author's note, I said to myself, this is a UU poem... well that's not the best way to put it... but I got the UU connection. I think it was the chalice.

The UUs are always fighting. My wife's on the board at her UU church. They're a good bunch of folks on the whole. As far me, though, I'm just too ornery for Unitarianism. They'll have me, but I won't have them. Too much Methodism when I was a child. Can't even stand the smell of a church and I hate hymns. That's just me though.

Anyway I liked the poem and think I'll give it to my wife, who unlike me, still has a bright soul.

oh my goodness, thank you so much for your comments and love on those 2 pieces, I am so glad you got chills reading "The Oyster Queen" - I got them writing it.. so glad you're here, back here Linda. Makes me so happy!

Linda! thank you so very much for the heartfelt comment on my story Almost There. You know all about writing and healing, so this means a lot to me. Thanks for the connection... Peace back to you, always.

Thanks for the comment on "Jury Duty in the West." If I got a smile out of somebody, that smile, seriously, made my day. I read "Food for Comfort" the other day and liked it. I may have left a comment. I've been trying to leave at least something so authors know, apart from the hit count, that someone else read their work. Anyway, I'll be watching for more.

'owdy, Linda! thanks for the read/comment on "Painting a Chimney." I too see it taking place in the New England area, around fall. When I started writing it I had no idea what would happen when the guy got on the roof, but had the feeling that once there, *something* would develop!

Hi Linda,
Thanks so much for checking out "Flatlander's Suite" and for your kind words about it! I love your term "the plight of the outsider" and, like you, I've kind of felt that way all over the place, wherever I've gone. Glad this piece resonated with you.

"You just transported me to some other era"--but I couldn't name that era even if you paid me. I don't really know where that strange tree poem came from, but I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the fave, Linda!

thank you for commenting on <a href="http://www.fictionaut.com/stories/marcus-speh/under-the-apple-tree">under the apple tree</a> linda. i love how everybody engages with a different part of this story. i suppose that is the strength (and weakness?) of metaphor. this bit is part of a dream of a little girl actually. or at least that's how i see it in the larger picture of the book which i'm planning. writing. planning. something.

Hi Linda! yeah, where else but NYC could a story like Tool take place! ha ha! Thanks so much for liking and reading, etc. Hope your enjoying the beautiful (finally) weather. We'll met up one of these days!
Hugs, susan

Dear Linda: You are really kind. Thank you so much for all of your encouraging remarks about flower boat and thank you also for your very insightful remarks about the issue of a religious title. I value your thoughts so much! Thank you for reading and taking the time to share what's on your mind and heart. Yours - Meg

Dear Linda,
Thank you so much for your very kind message. I really appreciate it! I, too, am honored to be in TLW with you! (I haven't seen it yet--I shall go and look it up) I really appreciate your kindness.
Love,
Bobbi

I appreciate your welcoming me to F-naut and above all I am thrilled to get to know you. I love your "1998: What I Wanted" and "The Golden Moment" and the chat about it. Your emphasis on space is so real. Thank you for being you.

I hope you are enjoying the AWP. Thanks for taking the time to comment on 10,000 Dollar Pyramid. Such thoughtful words expressed, just like your wonderful stories. And congrats on your ILR pub. What a gem they got from you.

Linda-I was so moved by your comment about Headstone as a memorial, which I had really only thought about subconsciously! (I realize how ridiculous that sounds, but it's true. . .) Your spirit is such a good one to have here at Fictionaut.

I'm very sorry, Linda, for posting that without correcting my misspelling of your name. I'm moving too fast this morning trying to respond to the comments from the shortest story ever written, at least by me.

Linda,
Thank you so much for the welcome, and for the lovely comment on Soft like Snow. I am so happy to be here. This site seems like a very supportive and inspirational place to be.
It's good to meet you. Warmly, Jen

Linda, my heartfelt thanks for your kind words about Birdbrain. Needing to write it, I felt as you stated, that that was how I actually felt. In retrospect I find the strength to doubt my smallness, and to imagine that my small shadow results from finding myself surrounded by bright lights like yours. Peace back at ya.

Hi Linda! Thanks for reading and commenting on Y ... I'm pretty new to Fictionaut so I'm just catching on to seeing comments and replying, but I love interacting with other writers, so your comment means a lot!

Linda - thanks for the reading of The Last Time. The scythe phrase you liked was my recollection of our first May weekend at the no utilities summer bungalow my Dad built, he having to use the scythe instead of the mower because of the length. I learned that a swaying rhythm worked the best. Peace!

hiya. i think it took me 1 minute to get to the bottom of this wall space of yours. which is another reason not to get too deeply involved with fictionaut (time! writing time!) ... but of course your charming comment could not go unnoticed. peace to you, too, linda! (and thanks for the welcome. feels as if i've been here before... ;-)

Linda,
Thanks for responding to the Coleridge urine poem. So odd to have come across that weird sentence in his voluminous notebooks. Found poems are a curious sub genre. Fun to read. Even more fun to write. Impossible, as far as I can tell, to publish. More to come on Fictionaut though!

Hey Linda,
Sorry for the delay in response, I've been away at the tin House workshop for the last week. That part in your short "Bookends" made me laugh because it was so honest. Granted, I've never been a parent, but I imagine such thoughts occur. Great piece.
Peace,
-Thomas

Hey Linda!!
It is Thomas from Lesley. How have you been? The second novel has taken a back seat to short stories, looking into grad schools and studying up for the GRE.
Thanks for checking out "Poor, Dead Hamilton."
Looking forward to reading some of your writings here on fictionaut!

You are very welcome Linda. I’m still thinking about “Survivor” and I’m sure I will be for a long time. Also, thank you for your attention to my story, I appreciate it very much. I’ll be sure to read more of your work soon.

Thanks, Linda. I'm going over the chapters one by one editing and cringing and re-writing (not necessarily in that order lol) as it's been so long since I first wrote this manuscript.
I would love to read yours, I will check in a sec to see if it is on here. And yes, murder mystery is right!

Linda, Thank you for your kind words for "Sunday Morning". More are posted, waiting their turn at the starting gate. As I'm new to the Fictionaut community, I hope you will share with others; I'm looking forward to more input. And looking forward to reading you in coming weeks. ~ J

Thank you Linda! Your comments on WIld Blue Yonder..very much appreciated...I had first written silk dressed and felt much better about silk-tasseled. Your self-censorship/authenticity note on fb was terrific...honestly voiced.

Thanks for your comments on Addict. And you are correct I am a kung fu master wiseass issue skirter. Thankfully there are endless supplies of issues. We do have one thing in common however, toothbrush floor washing. Cheers.

On my laptop, dining room table, no glamor, no mystique as the the mundane world revolves around me. Oddly enough, I have a river view and face my back to it - probaly due to the habit of having to work anywhere...Heck , I could write in a garbage can if I had to, not to say I'm prolific of course...

Thanks for The Fan(s). Read that comment the other day, think Twain said it, of course carried over to apply to comedians as well, of which I have been known to be one at times. That can't be said of Fuddy - just the name itself implies lack of wit (which admittedly she does say she does not do)

Linda, thanks. People who appreciate urban industrial squalor and French coffee simultaneously and yet, still give a damn, are rare individuals in America today, an aquaintance to be cultivated. Stop by any time.

Thanks for reading Garden Light and comments. They are very much appreciated. I thought about take out "I think of death," too, but left it thinking it might pose some questions about one's place in nature, etc.

Linda! your comment on Love, Story made me laugh! But seriously, what's WRONG with us? love without ice cream?! Glad you liked the Pynchon part... Will be looking you up more often now that I know you are here!

Hey all, thanks for the welcome. It's like being in a candy shop -- what to read, what to post, where to hang, ACK! So much to savor, and I'm supposed to be a MONK, writing PURE. Damn, wish they'd take wifi off this mountain...

Hi Linda. Great to see you here again. I'm on somewhat of a spirit week, so not very active here this week. Will check back with you later. Oh, PS, do you have anything for the Glass Woman Prize? The current deadline is on 3/21/10 and I haven't seen a submission from you yet. Have fun with this wonderful website!